Linux 6.0 Releases Stable Branch Supporting Latest Architecture
Linux 6.0 releases stable branch supporting latest architecture:
Stable Linux kernel 6.0 is now available for most vendors. Usually, a move to a whole new version number signifies fundamental changes, but that isn't how Linux updates work. The OS' lead developer, Linus Torvalds, admits he only called the new version 6.0 because he didn't want to count beyond 5.19.12. Nonetheless, 6.0 includes many changes, including over 15,000 non-merge commits.
Linux 6.0 introduces hardware drivers for Intel's recently unveiled Raptor Lake and upcoming Meteor Lake processors and open-source drivers for the company's new Arc Alchemist GPUs. The latest AMD drivers support Threadripper CPUs, Epyc systems, and the company's upcoming RDNA 3 graphics cards. The new kernel also starts early support for Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered laptops, charting a path for Linux's expansion into Arm.
Other changes include:
- Fixed drivers for the Chinese LoongArch processor architecture.
- A new V3d graphics driver for the Raspberry Pi 4.
- More extensions for RISC-V platforms.
- Stable H.265 and HEVC codecs.
- An MMC onboard storage driver for Rockchip RK3588 devices.
[...] Torvalds will open the Linux 6.1 merge window this week, which he says includes multiple core changes. One is a security improvement Google engineers worked on for over a year to harden the kernel, closing zero-click Bluetooth vulnerabilities that could allow arbitrary code execution.
From Linux 6.0 arrives with support for newer chips, core fixes, and oddities we read:
A stable version of Linux 6.0 is out, with 15,000 non-merge commits and a notable version number for the kernel. And while major Linux releases only happen when the prior number's dot numbers start looking too big—"there is literally no other reason"—there are a lot of notable things rolled into this release besides a marking in time.
Most notable among them could be a patch that prevents a nearly two-decade slowdown for AMD chips, based on workaround code for power management in the early 2000s that hung around for far too long. Intel's Dave Hansen wrote the patch that made it into 6.0, noting in a comment on an Ars post that the issue had become an expensive drain as AMD systems gained higher CPU core counts. The average desktop user won't see huge gains, but larger systems working on intensive input/output applications should benefit.
Among other changes you can find in Linux 6.0, as compiled by LWN.net (in part one and part two):
- ACPI and power management improvements for Sapphire Rapids CPUs
- Support for SMB3 file transfer inside Samba, while SMB1 is further deprecated
- More work on RISC-V, OpenRISC, and LoongArch technologies
- Intel Habana Labs Gaudi2 support, allowing hardware acceleration for machine-learning libraries
- A "guest vCPU stall detector" that can tell a host when a virtual client is frozen
(Score: 2) by KritonK on Wednesday October 05 2022, @08:38AM
Given that there is already a 5.19.13 kernel out, this is obviously incorrect.
Linus didn't want to count beyond 5.19.
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday October 05 2022, @09:12AM
Linux 6.0 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures [cnx-software.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by gawdonblue on Wednesday October 05 2022, @08:27PM (1 child)
But Linux was on a massive roll back in the early 2000s and needed a version bump from 2.4 to 3.0 purely for marketing reasons.
Linus didn't care much about marketing and so just bumped it to 2.6 and thus much of the Linux hype was lost.
And that, children, was why 2004 was not the Year of Linux on the Desktop.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by jb on Thursday October 06 2022, @02:21AM
1.2 to 2.0, 2.0 to 2.2 & 2.2 to 2.4 each constituted big improvements. 2.4 to 2.6 not as much, but still substantial. Has there really been any substantial progress since the 2.6 series?
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday October 05 2022, @08:33PM
https://www.techspot.com/news/96189-linux-60-releases-stable-branch-supporting-latest-architecture.html [techspot.com]
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